Christian Alfred "Kick" van der Vall (born March 3, 1946) is a Dutch former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

, who played as an attacking midfielder for Feyenoord, DWS, Vitesse, and is best known for his longer spell at FC Twente.

Career

Van der Vall started playing youth football at Feyenoord. In 1963 he scored 3 goals against

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Gree ...

in the final of the Dutch youth championship. He made his

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

debut on December 13 the same year scoring the winning goal against GVAV. He failed to win a regular starting position and after 4 years and 35 matches van der Vall moved to

FC Twente Football Club Twente () is a Dutch professional football club from the city of Enschede, sometimes known internationally as Twente Enschede. The club was formed in 1965 by the merger of 1926 Dutch champions Sportclub Enschede with Enschedese ...

. Coached by

Kees Rijvers Cornelus Bernardus Rijvers (born 27 May 1926) is a Dutch former footballer who was active as a midfielder and later as coach for PSV Eindhoven and the Netherlands national team. He was born in Breda. Playing career Rijvers made his debut at N ...

he immediately became a starter and scored 7 goals his first season at Twente. After only 1 year van der Vall moved to DWS. In Amsterdam he played his first international football in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. In 1977 Twente won the

Dutch Cup The KNVB Beker (; en, KNVB Cup), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organized by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Ou ...

. In 1979 van der Vall had to move as Twente wanted to bring in younger players. He played 2 more years at Vitesse before retiring from professional football. Vitesse was relegated in 1980, so van der Vall played his final year in the

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (, en, First Division) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie and with the third-level Tweede Divisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as t ...

. In the 2019/2020 season FC Twente will play in the shirt of the brand Kick's 21. A new brand, exclusively developed for FC Twente, that bears the name of Kick van der Vall. The new brand is a tribute to the midfielder, who always played with number 21.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vall, Kick van der 1946 births Living people Footballers from Rotterdam Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Dutch footballers Association football midfielders AFC DWS players Feyenoord players FC Twente players SBV Vitesse players